On Sep 27, 9:07*am, dave wrote:
Drifter wrote:
JimK wrote:
Thanks again to everyone for all the great info. RHF, especially
thanks for all the great links, a gold mine.

Many warm thanks.

Jim

Hi Jim.

* *Welcome to the hobby. no, shortwave is not dead. don't
waste your time with the neo-trolls. you might want to
check out the groups on yahoo. 100's of radio/ receiver/
and short wave groups there. no spam, no trolls and no phony
crap. just be careful, short wave can become an obsession.

Drifter...

I cannot over-emphasize the importance of having a superior receiver in
these times. *While there are still a few powerhouse HFBC stations,
receiving them is no great achievement. *Utility monitoring is where you
really get into the hardware and the technology. *Planes, Hams,
Military, Beacons, etc. are quite challenging. *Risk = Reward.

A portable along the lines of an ICF-2010, a Satellit-800, *an E1, etc.,
are the bare minimum for such serious listening. *Any true
"communications receiver" style desktop, fro the Post War era forward,
will provide endless fascination, IMHO.

Dave, there may come a time when I do get interested in beacons,
military, planes, etc.
My initial interest is in picking up broadcast shows though. The idea
of talking back and forth with people around the world sounds great,
but for now I'm just looking to listen. I don't much care for 90% of
AM radio, and FM radio is just music. When I'm camping, or when at
home, it would be great to listen to other broadcasts. If from other
countries even better, but as long as it's interesting that's fine,
maybe some news, maybe some music, I really don't know what I'll
find.

I don't want to spend a lot of money until I get a better idea of
whether there is indeed "stuff" to pick up that I like. But a more
expensive setup could be in my future.

Thanks much,
Jim